Finishing belt



M. W. WHITE FINISHING BELT May 1, 1934.

Filed Dec. 5, 1932 W HmDmQm-M Patented May 1, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT DFFICE FINISHING BELT Application December 5, 1932, Serial No. 645,731

6 Claims.

This invention relates to finishing belts and to methods of making the same, and is herein illustrated and set forth with special reference to its application to finishing belts suitable for use in machines of the type disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 1,404,752 granted January 31, 1922, upon the application of Frederick M. Furber. Such machines may be used for performing various finishing operations such as scouring, bufiing or polishing, and they have been used particularly for scouring or buffing the edges of leather articles such as heels and soles of boots and shoes.

In the manufacture of finishing belts it has been a common practice to form the belt by uniting the two ends of a piece of suitable strip material by an ordinary lap joint. A belt thus formed is naturally driven in such a direction that the trailing edge of the overlapping end passes out from under the work so as to avoid any danger of loosening the joint or damaging the work, which might result by driving the overlapping end against the work. However, it has been found that in many operations for which finishing belts are used, for example the scouring of the edges of the soles of boots and shoes, the belt becomes worn excessively adjacent to one of its lateral edges and must, therefore, be discarded before any substantial use has been made of the remaining portion of the working surface of the belt. In order, however, to utilize the remaining unworn portion of the belt it is necessary to reverse the belt and such a reversal cannot be effected in belts formed by the ordinary lap joint without encountering the diificulty above-mentioned, namely, running the edge of the overlapping end against the Work.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved finishing belt which, upon reversal, will be free from the disadvantage above referred to. In accordance with this object, a feature of the invention consists in providing a plurality of contiguous tabs upon each of the end portions of a strip of finishing material which is to form the belt, the tabs on one end portion being united to the tabs on the other end portion alternately in overlapping and underlapping relation. In the illustrated belt the two ends are oblique and parallel to each other and the tabs are formed by slitting the end portions along the longitudinal center line of the strip so that the tabs will be contiguous and of substantially equal width, the two tabs on one end portion being cemented in overlapping and underlapping relation respectively to the two tabs on the other end portion. It will be evident that by reason of this construction a reversal of the belt, while presenting a fresh abrasive surface to the work, will not result in reversing the aspect of the splice in relation to the work.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved method of making finishing belts of the character under consideration. In accordance with this object, the illustrated finishing belt is formed by slitting each of the end portions of the material which is to form the belt so as to leave a plurality of substantially contiguous tabs and by uniting the tabs on one of the end portions to the tabs on the other end portion alternately in overlapping and underlapping relation.

These and other features and characteristics of the invention, including certain details of construction and combination of parts, will be described in connection with an illustrative belt and pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring now to the accompanying drawing, the figure of the drawing is a view in perspective of a portion of a finishing belt illustrating the improved form of splice.

The finishing belt herein illustrated consists of a strip of flexible sheet material coated upon one side with abrasive, and having two end portions 10 and 12 which terminate in parallel oblique edges 16 and 14, respectively. In the end portion 12 is formed a slit 18 extending along the longitudinal center line of the strip and dividing the end portion 12 into two contiguous tabs 20 and 22, respectively. A similar slit is formed in the end portion 10 dividing that end portion into two contiguous tabs 24 and 26, respectively. It will be noted that the two tabs 20 and 22 are substantially equal in width and that their combined width is substantially equal to that of the strip, and the same is also true of the two tabs 24 and 26, respectively. In forming the illustrated splice the tab 20 is adhesively united, for example by cement, in overlapping relation upon the tab 24 and the tab 22 is similarly united but in underlapping relation to the tab 26. The abrasive-coated side of the strip constitutes the outside of the illustrated belt.

Assuming that the portion of the belt adjacent to the nearer edge, as viewed in the drawing is more subject to Wear than the portion adjacent to the further edge, the belt will be driven in the direction indicated by the arrow. The work may then be presented to the belt in such a position that the overlying tab 20 in its travel will engage the work and the trailing edge 14 of the tab 20 110 will be carried out from under the work. When, after the usual period of service, the abrasive material adjacent to the near edge of the belt has been used up, the belt, instead of being discarded, may be reversed. The tab 26, upon such reversal, will assume the position formerly occupied by the tab 20 so that the trailing edge 16 of the tab 26 will now pass out from under the work. The belt may thus be used adjacent to both of its lateral edges without danger of loosening the splice or of damaging the work.

It will be noted that one of the tabs on each end portion, for example each of the tabs 20 and 26, has upon its abrasive-coated side an obtuse angle between the oblique end and the central slit. It will likewise be noted that the other tab on each end portion, for example each of the tabs 22 and 24, has upon its abrasive-coated side an acute angle between the oblique end and the central slit. In forming the illustrated splice, each tab having the obtuse angle is cemented in overlapping relation, with its abrasive coated side exposed, to each tab having the acute angle.

If, as occasionally happens, the work should engage the belt at localities beyond the longitudinal center line and thereby strike against an overlapping edge of a tab, no serious damage to the splice would result, inasmuch as the overlapping acute-angled portion of the tab is on the far side of the belt out of the way of the work and serves to hold the remaining portion of the tab securely in position.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. The method of splicing together two ends of strip material adapted for use in scouring, polishing or like operations, which consists in slitting each of the end portions to form a plurality of substantially contiguous tabs and uniting the tabs on one of the end portions to the tabs on the other end portion alternately in overlapping and underlapping relation.

2. The method of making a finishing belt which consists in forming on the two end portions of a strip of flexible sheet material adapted for scouring, polishing, or like operations, a pair of tabs of substantially equal width and having a total Width substantially equal to that of the strip, and in joining the two end portions of the strip by uniting the two tabs on one end portion in overlapping and underlapping relation respectively to the two tabs on the other end portion.

3. A finishing belt, comprising a strip of finishing material having two ends, each of said ends having formed on it a plurality of substantially contiguous tabs, and the tabs on one end being united to the tabs on the other end alternately in overlapping and underlapping relation.

4. A finishing belt, comprising a strip of finishing material having two oblique substantially parallel ends, each of said ends having formed on it a plurality of substantially contiguous tabs, and the tabs on one end being united to the tabs on the other end alternately in overlapping and underlapping relation.

5. An abrading belt, comprising an abrasivecoated strip of flexible sheet material having two oblique substantially parallel ends, said strip being slit along its longitudinal center line at localities adjacent to said ends respectively to form on each end portion a pair of contiguous tabs of substantially equal width, and the two tabs on one end portion being cemented in overlapping and underlapping relation respectively to the two tabs on the other end portion.

6. An abrading belt, comprising a strip of flexible sheet material coated on one side with an abrasive substance and having two oblique subsantially parallel ends, said strip being slit along its longitudinal center line at localities adjacent to said ends respectively to form on each end portion a pair of contiguous tabs of substantially equal width, one tab on each end portion having on its abrasive-coated side an obtuse angle between the oblique end and the central slit and the other tab on each end portion having on its abrasive-coated side an acute angle between the oblique end and the central slit, and each of the tabs having said obtuse angle being cemented in overlapping relation, with its abrasive-coated side exposed, to each of the tabs having said acute angle respectively.

MELBOURNE W. WHITE. 

